Two cattle were infected at the left scapula with larvae of the Dermatobia hominis, while one of them was infected with the Mannheimia granulomatis. Biopsies of the lesions were taken at the 7, 14, 21 and 28 days p.i. for subsequent histopatological, immunohistochemical and electron microscopical studies. In the only animal infected with larvae, eosinophilic dermatitis, infiltration of mononuclear cells and proliferation of connective tissue characterized the histological lesions. The simultaneous inoculation of Dermatobia hominis and Mannheimia granulomatis caused, besides the characteristic lesions of the parasitosis, linfangitis and eosinophilic microabscesses, similar changes to those observed in spontaneous cases of the disease. In the samples taken after 28 days of the bacterial infection it was observed, in both immunohistochemestry and by electronic microscopy the presence of apparently intact bacterial bodies inside macrophages fagosomes, suggesting that the bacteria is inside the macrophages until some unknown factors trigger the development of the illness. Mannheimia granulomatis was isolated from larvae gathered 42 days after inoculation demonstrating that the bacteria can survive inside the larva Dermatobia hominis. Data from the study indicate that the larvae of Dermatobia hominis may act as a contributing factor to the development of proliferative fibrogranulomatous panniculitis.
Mannheimia granulomatis; Dermatobia hominis; proliferating fibrogranulomatous panniculitis; lechiguana; bovine
